An enthusiast should never take their car to a chain store. The marks on your wheels would go completely unnoticed by the vast majority of the motoring public. These stores are under tremendous pressure to move a car out fast and start on the next one. They will cut corners wherever possible to keep the numbers where they need to be. Since most people are OK with that, it has become SOP.

I understand your frustration, but unless you are a long-time customer I don't see you getting a brand new wheel out of this. Legally, all they have to do is make you whole. The insurance company will consider a refinished wheel to be whole. The wheels weren't brand new when you drove in, regardless of condition. Sorry, but that is how insurance companies work. Especially when you are not their insured. If you make a big enough stink, you might get lucky but I wouldn't count on it.

For the future, find an independent enthusiast shop that gets its business through word of mouth. Find a BMW club and they can make recommendations. A guy like that is far more likely to care about your car and his reputation than a chain store employee who is likely to be somewhere else in a year or two.

You have a valid point based on reality, but the store still should not have screwed up his rims or his lift point. The lift point is almost worse since that can't be blamed on an automatic machine. A person had to place the lift in the wrong spot to do that.

a series 40 tire is a little harder the normal, but a 40 series paired with RFT. Those are a PAIN. Last time i had to mount one, i needed a 2nd person and extra tire spoons. And even then it was a bear.

With 10k miles i dont know why you wanted to go to a chain in the first place. I normally would pay extra for special shops that do high end wheels. I normally go for ones that sell the 22" chromes.

Them offering you to refinish the wheel is pretty much standard practice. Getting a brand new wheel... well i've seen it done before but not without a fight. What is posted is correct, insurance claim will make you whole (refinished). Try fighting insurance companies when you get into accidents, only enthusiast shop will try to fight to get you OEM bumpers and in same cases you pay a little out of pocket for them too.

I really wish you have good luck in this. I would be just as [censored]. But i've been on the tech side and on your side of it. Its just a bad spot to be in overall.

When I take any vehicle in to have tires mounted, I make sure that the wheels are clean, shiny and spotless.

That way, any sort of damage will be obvious to anyone involved.

That is just 500 miles worth of brake dust up around the lug nuts?

How clean or not the lug nut holes are is completely irrelevant to this discussion. Yes, the wheels were spotless when I took the car in the first time for this reason.

And if its a matter of cleaning wheels or playing with or reading bedtime stories to my 19 month old - the baby wins every time, regardless of how much I like a cleaned up car exterior.

So actually the dirt on the wheels was less than 500 miles, probably no more than 250. Yes, these are wide open wheels with big rotors and pads that make a lot of dust.

Which again is irrelevant. I saw the damage clear enough, regardless of the level of dirt on the wheels. It was obvious to me, to the guy who did the job and to the service manager. the other damage was also visible enough to be quite obvious.

The company and insurance will bleed enough in terms of man hours working with this to make it their while to spend the money and give me the new wheel. I can be sure of that. So far they have not given me any issue about the new wheel other than the first tech who was trained to say that it was good enough. Even my phone calls with corporate.

An enthusiast should never take their car to a chain store. The marks on your wheels would go completely unnoticed by the vast majority of the motoring public. These stores are under tremendous pressure to move a car out fast and start on the next one. They will cut corners wherever possible to keep the numbers where they need to be. Since most people are OK with that, it has become SOP.

I have never had a problem with Discount Tire. I always stand there and watch, so they're probably being more careful. But I don't do it in an annoying way -- I am friendly with the guys and even chat with them about the car when they ask.

Going to a chain was problem 1Going to a Goodyear chain was problem 2Buying a "performance and or enthusiasts" car, and taking it to a chain was problem 3.

This wasn't the one on Parsonage Rd in Edison near the Menlo park Mall was it?

I hate to say this, but when you bought a BMW, you should have understood that sometimes you have to pay specialist tire shops or dealer prices for the service they require. I see this far too often, and it often ends as this did, usually worse. If compound on a rag doesn't remove the scratches .....get them to replace whatever wheels are damaged.

I actually think some tire techs are jealous when they have to get all greasy working on a fancy car and accidentally damage a car, over fill motor oil, wrong fluids, etc....etc....

I agree with contacting a BMW or Benz forum and ask which tire shop specializes in mounting 18, 20, 22 inch wheels. When a tire tech drives my car into the bay I politely remind him not to damage my car / wheels.

I did confront immediately. Also called Goodyear corporate before I left. The advice was to call the dealer and they (the store) will do an insurance claim.

How hard can it be to train best practices? Lots of cars have alloys with no outer rim.

Are rfts really that much harder to get on?

Dirty wheels... lol... obviously the poster who is dissing the "dirty" wheels has never had a German car or one with high performance pads... stand on your brakes a couple of times, and wheels look like that...!

I laugh at the owners who NEVER clean their wheels, you know, that shiny Mercedes with the silver back wheels, and the completely black, will never be silver again fronts... and these people DO! complain to the dealers...

As for runflats, you might want to find a way to try a non-run flat high perf. tire to see what it drives like... hint hint, you wont want to put runflats back on...!

Runflats typically ride terrible, and are heavy. And if you do drive on one while flat, the tire is STILL ruined, and now you have to buy another anyway... good luck with that sometimes...

If you want to really irritate a tire tech, bring in a set of all black alloys for a tire change... the black wheels, which are the HOT! Item at the moment, show every scratch /scrape in a big way... and if you curb one, they look brutal for all to see...!

If you change tires , you will, at some point, end up with marks on the wheels... just like you will get a rock in the windscreen, or chips in the paint, or scuffs in the leather etc. Keeping a car in mint condition will drive a man insane...where as keeping a car in good condition, and enjoying the drive, is a much better option.

Having obsessed for many years, I am past that stage of my life... and if I looked at your car, as well as probably 98/100 other people, we wouldn't even notice... brand new wheels look brand new for about a week...!

I agree, the damage should never have been caused in the first place... but worry about more important things, like your child. And enjoy that first time when he/she is the one who dings / scratches / scrapes your car...usually that is about the time when "good" condition starts to overcome the obsession with "mint" condition...